Why I Became a Speech-Language Pathologist + Kids Make the Best Comedians

When I was young, I didn't just have one thing I wanted to be when I grew up. I had at least twenty.

 In fact, one of my friends created a list for me so I wouldn't "forget" all of my jobs when I was finally ready to take them on. What almost all of these aspirations had in common was that they were glamorous, adventuresome, and BOLD. It was go big, or go home. I wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to be a radio announcer, a dancer, a singer, and a comedian all in one. I wanted to lead safari explorations through unmapped jungles. I wanted to train dolphins. I wanted to own an ice cream shop and invent my own flavors every day. Probably typical little-kid wishes.

So what happened between then and now?

It's been a roller coaster of a ride, and that's why I've had this topic on my mind for awhile now. Graduating and moving across the country have tossed me into this whole new world where I have to actually look for genuine grown-up jobs in a BIG, unfamiliar city. And it has definitely been more challenging than I expected.

Leaving school behind was especially difficult for me. Unlike a whole bunch of my peers, I was in love with school. School has been a large part of my identity ever since I stepped my little Kindergarten-size feet into Mrs. Segler's class, skipped home for chicken-pot-pie lunches, and ran back for special reading programs.
I could do school. As much as I resented it, I was usually labeled "the smart kid," "the teacher's pet," or "the brain." I WAS THE NERD. And it stuck.
Given all this, moving on to university was like a dream.
Bryan would laugh at me all the time, but when I only had internships and no classes on campus, I would jump at the chance to go to the library with him or go to a show on campus or look at trees on campus or whatever because campus was home.

With the rollover of December to January and the new year, school for me was over. After all those books, lectures, assignments, papers, theses, and campus walks, school was done. It was like one of those weird dreams where you are rolling along doing A and then BAM! your dream drastically shifts to a completely different scenario, B. In real terms, school life was A, and lifeinWashingtonDClookingforajobgettinglostonthemetrowhatamIdoinghereI'mstillalittlekid was B.

So how about the childhood list that was supposed to define B?
All those wishes and dreams taken into consideration, I chose to become a Speech-Language Pathologist. When I looked at the course and job descriptions, it just spoke to me. In comparison to the jobs on that list, one thing's for certain: whether it be in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, home health, or early intervention, this job is not glamorous. It involves being up-close and personal with people with a wide range of disabilities and needs. It is demanding work, and I am likely to come home with some bumps and bruises as marks of the trade. It may not be glamorous, but it is exciting, because I have seen speech and language therapy make a differences in the lives of children AND adults who are out there right now. And despite the bumps and bruises, I'm going back into work tomorrow, because of those people. I may not be going to the moon or announcing Mint Stracciatella as the flavor of the week, but this is my niche.This is where I belong.

Now that I'm in the trenches, so to say, here's a little boost that I stashed away for one of these rainy, real-world days.

Kids Make the Best Comedians...

My Favorite Quotes from Speech Kids at my Elementary School Internship

1)  "You smell like a doctor." 
      (I had just sanitized the tables and chairs since it was sneezing season and we work real close with kids'   mouths)

2) "Can I touch your earrings? I want to touch both of them. You have to take them out, now."
      (They were gold leaf earrings. I can relate - I'm attracted to shiny things as well.)

3) Me: "What is the opposite of narrow?"
    Little Hispanic student: "Dinero? Are we talkin' money?"

   Same student a few months later, upon walking into the classroom: "Are you still here?"
   For better or for worse, I was still there.

4) Preface: Mrs. Allen was my SLP supervisor, and she had a few family pictures up near her desk in the classroom.
Student: "Mrs Allen, you look young in this picture!"
Thanks, kid. We all need that kind of boost sometimes.

5) (Looking at a picture) Student: "Why is he yawning?"
     Me: "Looks like he's tired."
     Student: "Like you and me?"
     Me: "Uh.. I guess, maybe, a little."
     (I didn't know that I was that obvious.)

6) Little pig-tailed girl walks through the door of our classroom...
    Me: "Welcome to speech!"
    Girl: "I'll make you proud!"
    Gotta love the enthusiasm. Example for us all.

7) And my personal favorite, while working with a little boy on his R sound:
    "Don't tell me to put my tongue too far back in my mouth or I'll barf."
    Thanks for that heads up. I'll most definitely keep it in mind.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am bursting to post more pictures and updates on D.C., but this was a much-needed personal detour in the meantime.

The D.C. Days - PooPooPaper and More

My mind. is going to. explode.

      There is so much to see here, my eyes, feet, and brain are all kinds of tired. 

But I am loving every minute of this city life.

Here's the rundown of today, in picture form.

The Washington Monument is still under earthquake repair. Apparently when they check for damage, they rappel down the sides of the monument. Sign me up.

Museum of Natural History (Henry's Hideout)

(The elephant is Henry. Useless but interesting fact)

I have this thing for giraffes. Maybe it's because when I was little, I used to have a pretty long neck for the rest of my body. So I just get them, I guess. 

 

You are still loved, little Kiwi bird. 

We're also deep sea geeks. Not meaning that we know anything about ocean life, but maybe our alter egos are deep sea divers or something so we had to spend some serious time in this section.

And our dinosaur personalities were also discovered at this point in the journey. Worth mentioning. 

We touched a piece of Mars, ogled at the Hope Diamond, oh and - I found an animal that must be somehow related to Bryan and which helped me solve the mystery of his vacuum eating ability. This animal has three stomachs for lightening quick digestion, all while managing to be cute. The Colobus, folks.

Last but not least, we were enlightened as to how we would look as Neanderthals or early Homo Sapiens..
Which is pretty dashing, I think.
Ten points to Gryffindor if you can tell who is who.

 For future entertainment, you can do this on a free app called Meanderthal. You're welcome.

And now it's time for...

Finds of the day:

That is every bit as real as it looks. What a waste of good candy.. since of course the outline around these creepy crawlies is not edible.

 

Notebooks made out of elephant poop. 

 I was sorely tempted.. you know, for those moments you just need to write down some really crappy ideas.

(sorry mom, I know you raised me to be more cultured than that)

 That was only half the day, actually, but I have this amazing story to tell that I have to tell in full.
 So I will save it for a little later.

Until then, much love.
Becca

The D.C. Days - Archives and Photobombs

Welcome to another edition of our goings-on here in D.C.! Most of this morning was spent waiting while our hot water was supposedly being fixed, which didn't work--again. Luckily we can still shower in the vacant apartment next door to prevent taking the Polar Bear Plunge every time we want to be clean. This winter (and specifically some days this week!) are supposed to be the coldest this city has seen in the last twenty-some-odd years. And there are people living out on the streets. This boggles my mind. I pray for them every day now.

So starting a post about the weather is probably one of the not-so-exciting ways to go, but sorrynotsorry, it's freezing. Anyway, when we did finally get out, we choose our first major stop of this whole experience and went (as eskimos) to the National Archives Museum: The home of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and every other important old document in existence.

The Rotunda of the Archives. The lights are dim and it's chilly for document preservation, and everyone is sort of hushed and reverent about the whole thing. The Constitution is in the middle-back of the room and surrounded by gruff security guards, who scolded Bryan for being too close to the glass. I had to smile, though, because five minutes later the guard was nearly dozing, leaning against his post at the back wall. I guess the muffled silence and low lights could put anyone in a coma. And I hope he doesn't lose his job because I wrote that.

 I was truly honored to be in the room with the documents signed by the Founding Fathers, to see their signatures on the faded parchment and to just spend some time in the nearly-empty room. We chose a good mid-day non-vacation time to be there, when we didn't have to share the space with very many others and we could just look as much as we wanted. Success!!

Bryan's favorite:  A place in the Vaults where you could pick up a phone and hear recordings of presidents' phone conversations. So yes we heard part of the the Watergate tapes, in their own crackly fashion.

My favorite: An exhibit with a bunch of saved letters to the presidents written by kids. One kid wrote to President Reagan about needing emergency clean-up services for his room, since his mother had declared it a "disaster area." Reagan suggested he start his own volunteer organization for clean-up with himself as the first member. Another area of the same exhibit had pictures of the presidents as babies and some videos of them as little little kids. George Bush taking his first steps? Adorable. Also, Bryan is uncannily accurate at identifying Presidents from their baby pictures. I married well, everyone.

We also had our first Chipotle right next to the Verizon Center and Chinatown. Note: Do not take pictures of anything just above street performers' heads, or they will hold up signs for you personally that say, "No pictures until after donations, please." Sorry silver dubstepping man, you just happened to photo bomb our picture of the entrance to Chinatown!

You know I'll be back soon :)
Love,
Becca

The D.C. Days - Part One

This is it. 

Washington, District of Columbia.

With the change over to 2014, we jumped right into a brand new phase in life in Washington, D.C.
And by "jumped," I mean we were really delayed all across the country with our flights and spent way too many hours playing Fruit Ninja and Jelly Defense on Bryan's new Christmas present. Well, he played, and I ruffled through the Eyewitness D.C. book we just purchased from Barnes and Noble. I'm a little obsessed with both Barnes and Noble and those Eyewitness books after I read one for Berlin. There's the travel junkie in me. The weather also gave us some good opportunities to people watch, since we traveled from 5am to 12am - there is always something new to see.. pilots playing on grand pianos in the gate areas, toddlers discovering the moving walkway. I love it. I really do.

One thing this Utah girl has really really been hoping for is some missionary opportunities in this new phase of life. While we were stuck in our last plane from Chicago to D.C. and waiting to take off, the youngish bearded man across the aisle from us asked, "Have I seen you two in (some name of random church)??" Um, nope, we've never been there. "Do you already have a church?" Yes! Mormon, or LDS. "Oh, so do you go to the temple?" Yes! And we love it. He turned out to be an Anglican minister and asked us all types of questions about the LDS church. I knew there was a reason my quad fit just barely in the top of my computer bag carry-on. And there we were, talking about the New Testament and the Book of Common Prayer and the Nicene Creed in the very back of the plane until we were finally cleared for takeoff. He was really a very nice man and it turned out to be a good conversation. We went our separate ways after the flight, but I'm now way more motivated to carry a little Book of Mormon with me to give away, or pass-along cards, or something to be prepared for these spontaneous conversations.

When we arrived at the Barlow Center (the LDS building - right downtown! looking out over Pennsylvania Avenue..) and our little studio apartment, it could not have been a better sight. This little studio is perfect, and we feel so lucky to be here. The last two days have consisted mostly of unpacking and locating the nearest shopping areas to gather what we need (Trader Joe's - I'm slowly converting to this hippie-preserve-the-world style). Today (Sunday) a member picked all the married students up in a big van (which are few and far between here) to take us personally to church.

The LDS ward. So many different kinds of people. So much love. So many good stories. And when you get up to the pulpit and say good morning, everyone in the congregation says good morning back. And 10 full time missionaries! The sacrament prayers were in French (This might as well be a foreign country). But we found out after that that is a once-per-month occurrence because of the high number of French-speakers that attend in that area.

Now. This is the best story of this post. I know this is getting long, but if you just skim the rest, read this part. I was inspired.

As the Priesthood passed the sacrament mid-meeting today, I noticed that there was one African man in an old pair of jeans, but some shiny new white shoes. And he was African - from Malawi. His name was Ikrim. He bore his testimony about the many blessings he had received, how grateful he was for the love and assistance of the ward, and how excited he was to finally return to his family the coming week. I didn't understand how amazing he was until after the end of the meeting. In this ward, there is a tradition that after the final prayer, anyone who is leaving comes to the front and the congregation sings one verse of "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" to that person. As Ikrim made his way to the front, the bishop went to the pulpit and told his story. Ikrim had left his family to come to America a couple of years previously with nothing to his name - a homeless man. When the missionaries found him here in D.C., he had searched and searched for a job, finally found one, but remained homeless so that he could save the money to send to his family back in Malawi. He braved two bitter D.C. winters without a place to call home, and through it all, every time the bishop would ask him how he was doing, he would say,

 "I am blessed."

Ikrim had since found a place to live, and was finally making the trip back to see his wife and children after those long years. He stood at the front of the congregation, and the hymn began. As the first line rang out from the members, Ikrim's hands went over his face and he smiled and cried all at once. I have never seen such a peaceful and contented face or met anyone so convinced that God would take care of him. I cried too, because of the beauty of all of it. 

After church we went to the home of the same member who had given us a ride to church. There are definitely stories from that experience, too, mostly funny ones-- but I'll type them out another day. It's time to close the Taco stand for the night so that we're ready for our first full week here-tomorrow! This is only the beginning.

Cheers!!

Becca